Poetry at Sangam
Poetry at Sangam showcases poetry in English and translations as well as essays on poetics and news of new releases.
Sundarapandiapuram 1992
The world is changing.
You are about to get more choices:
in bottled beverages and toffee flavours.
For now, let us pull the Aasai chocolate wrapper
from both sides till it resembles your grandma’s
ear—sans the pampadam and the privilege—
and wait for the fair skinned girl to drench herself
in Courtallam’s waters, as she, hands on the railing,
stands out—crew and all— in the landscape, like a migratory
bird out to discover simple pleasures,
such as:
joining the assembly line planting saplings
in a well watered field, driving a tractor in her Pavadai thavani,
crossdressing to pass off as a Nattamai, (struggling, however,
to decide on the thundu), uncovering the overturned parisal,
to shame the love birds in ripe old age. The good voyeur.
All that is about to change: someone is seeking
her out for the Nation’s most prestigious project.
Till then, she will immerse the Jamaican sun
in the river and out of the orange shadows
emerge, three little birds—
otherworldly sounds blending with ours
propping us before our mirrors, hands
reflexively reaching for Ponds Talcum powder
or Gokul Santol.